Simon

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 SIMON

 BY

 J. STORER CLOUSTON

 AUTHOR OF "THE MAN FROM THE CLOUDS," "THE SPY
 IN BLACK," "THE LUNATIC AT LARGE," ETC.

 NEW YORK
 GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY




 COPYRIGHT, 1919,
 BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA




CONTENTS


 CHAPTER                                                    PAGE

       I. The Solitary Passenger                              9
      II. The Procurator Fiscal                              16
     III. The Heir                                           23
      IV. The Man from the West                              31
       V. The Third Visitor                                  40
      VI. At Night                                           48
     VII. The Drive Home                                     56
    VIII. Sir Reginald                                       67
      IX. A Philosopher                                      74
       X. The Letter                                         80
      XI. News                                               89
     XII. Cicely                                            100
    XIII. The Deductive Process                             106
     XIV. The Question of Motive                            114
      XV. Two Women                                         123
     XVI. Rumour                                            128
    XVII. A Suggestion                                      135
   XVIII. L1200                                             143
     XIX. The Empty Compartment                             148
      XX. The Sporting Visitor                              154
     XXI. Mr. Carrington's Walk                             161
    XXII. Mr. Carrington and the Fiscal                     168
   XXIII. Simon's Views                                     176
    XXIV. Mr. Bisset's Assistant                            185
     XXV. A Telegram                                        196
    XXVI. At Stanesland                                     201
   XXVII. Flight                                            209
  XXVIII. The Return                                        216
    XXIX. Brother and Sister                                224
     XXX. A Marked Man                                      229
    XXXI. The Letter Again                                  240
   XXXII. The Sympathetic Stranger                          247
  XXXIII. The House of Mysteries                            253
   XXXIV. A Confidential Conversation                       261
    XXXV. In the Garden                                     271
   XXXVI. The Walking Stick                                 278
  XXXVII. Bisset's Advice                                   285
 XXXVIII. Trapped                                           291
   XXXIX. The Yarn                                          301
      XL. The Last Chapter                                  312




SIMON




I

THE SOLITARY PASSENGER


The train had come a long journey and the afternoon was wearing on.
The passenger in the last third class compartment but one, looking
out of the window sombrely and intently, saw nothing now but desolate
brown hills and a winding lonely river, very northern looking under
the autumnal sky.

He was alone in the carriage, and if any one had happened to study his
movements during the interminable journey, they would have concluded
that for some reason he seemed to have a singularly strong inclination
for solitude. In fact this was at least the third compartment he had
occupied, for whenever a fellow traveller entered, he unostentatiously
descended, and in a moment had slipped, also unostentatiously, into an
empty carriage. Finally he had selected one at the extreme end of the
train, a judicious choice which had ensured privacy for the last couple
of hours.

When the train at length paused in the midst of the moorlands and for
some obscure reason this spot was selected for the examination of
tickets, another feature of this traveller's character became apparent.
He had no ticket, he confessed, but named the last station as his place
of departure and the next as his destination. Being an entirely
respectable looking person, his statement was accepted and he slipped
the change for half a crown into his pocket; just as he had done a
number of times previously in the course of his journey. Evidently the
passenger was of an economical as well as of a secretive disposition.

As the light began to fade and the grey sky to change into a deeper
grey, and the lighted train to glitter through the darkening moors, and
he could see by his watch that their distant goal was now within an
hour's journey, the man showed for the first time signs of a livelier
interest.